Establishment of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus
24.03.2021
On 24 March 2021, the International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) was set up. Poland is one of the initiators of the IAPB.
The aim of the initiative is to monitor the observance of human rights in Belarus and to collect evidence of human rights violations committed by state institutions in the run-up to the presidential elections in August 2020 and after the rigged elections. We expect that the collected documentation will be used in future proceedings before Belarusian or international courts so that those responsible for repression will bear legal consequences. In case the UN establishes an international mechanism for investigation into human rights violations in BY, all documentation will be handed over to the United Nations.
The Platform will consist of Belarusian and international non-governmental organisations specialising in human rights protection. The IAPB will be coordinated by DYGNITY, the Danish Institute Against Torture. The Platform’s budget is composed of voluntary contributions made by all states that initiated the project. However, their role ends with providing support, while non-governmental organisations that make up the Platform retain full independence of their actions.
The establishment of the IAPB is the result of, among other things, the report on human rights violations in Belarus that was prepared by OSCE Rapporteur Professor Benedek under the Moscow Mechanism invoked by 17 OSCE participating states (including Poland). One of the recommendations in the report was to set up an independent body documenting such cases for future proceedings.
For many months, Poland has consistently supported Belarusian non-governmental organisations that collect evidence of human rights violations by Belarus’s security forces. This is our duty to the Belarusian people.
Our goal is invariably to support a sovereign Belarus and a peaceful solution of the political crisis, including the organisation of free and fair presidential elections with equal participation of the democratic opposition, as well as the release of all people wrongfully arrested and sentenced (journalists, oppositionists, and activists).
MFA Press Office